Executive pay, a real scandal

A Window into America’s Executive Suites

The data in the latest executive compensation survey from the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation, effectively debunk the justifications for excessive pay that emanate regularly from CEO flacks — and buttress the new Dodd-Frank reform act provision that requires major firms to disclose the pay ratio between their top execs and typical workers.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, for his annual efforts at the helm of America’s largest labor federation, makes four times the pay that goes to the federation’s typical employee.

Michael Jeffries, the CEO at Abercrombie & Fitch, has been making close to 1,000 times the pay that goes to his typical employee. A good many shareholders at the giant retailer seem to feel their CEO makes too much.

Last April, in advisory “say on pay” balloting, an Abercrombie shareholder majority voted against their company’s CEO pay plan. Abercrombie’s corporate directors would, in response, rush to show they feel the shareholder pain — by limiting how much free travel CEO Jeffries can take on the Abercrombie jet.